The people's friend or a cynical opportunist?

THREE women who want to speak to Michael Howard are turned away from Morecambe lifeboat house by a Tory official. The meeting's private, he says. "Never mind," says one of the women. "At least he came."

THREE women who want to speak to Michael Howard are turned away from Morecambe lifeboat house by a Tory official. The meeting's private, he says.

"Never mind," says one of the women. "At least he came."

People may not trust politicians, but they like to feel wanted. And former barrister Mr Howard has certainly got around since taking the helm of the Conservative Party.

But his two-day tour of the north west raised a few cynical eyebrows. Was it a question of

soothing local pain or fanning flames in the Press?

Most people in Morecambe praise Mr Howard for turning up when they have so far failed to get a visit from a government minister. In Burnley there is greater scepticism. It has seen senior politicians come and go. It knows the difference between listening and hearing.

Pamphlet

Derek Pearson, 64, wants to see Mr Howard.

He clutches a pamphlet about how his town has spiralled into decline and whispers: "I took the picture on the front."

"Politicians haven't done anything for me," he says. "If they don't live here, they don't care."

Others are more practical. Alberta Duckworth, 68, says after meeting Mr Howard: "I was a bit surprised when I found out he was coming here. But it doesn't really matter why. It's good for the town that he's raising these issues."

Erinma Bell, chairwoman of a postive action group in Moss Side, met Mr Howard in Manchester in December and again in Burnley.

"He must see thousands of people a day, but he recognised us straight away and asked us about what we were doing," she says.

But will it matter, at the next General Election, that Michael Howard was pressing the flesh in Morecambe and Burnley?

As he says, with a twinkle: "I'll let you draw that conclusion." Ever the lawyer.